USTFCCCA News & Notes
QUICK RECAP: Pre-National Invitational
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — After a surprising afternoon at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, things were back to normal at the Pre-National Invitational at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.
Oregon’s Edward Cheserek and Michigan’s Erin Finn did what they should have done and the No. 4 Oregon men and No. 2 Colorado women captured team titles after coming into the meet as the top-ranked teams among their gender.
Let’s take a closer look at what happened at the site of the 2016 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships.
No. 4 Oregon Men Sweep Team and Individual Titles at Pre-Nationals
RESULTS (Men’s Results at the bottom of the page)
Terre Haute, Indiana, was hit by a Quack Attack on Saturday as the No. 4 Oregon men swept both the team and individual titles at the Pre-National Invitational – a feat they’d like to replicate on that same course at the NCAA Championships on November 19.
Led by a dominant victory from three-time national champion Edward Cheserek, the Ducks scored 85 points to take down top-six rivals No. 5 Arkansas and No. 6 Colorado. The Razorbacks – who were initially declared the winners before a chip-timing error reversed the results – scored 110 points and the Buffaloes posted 124.
No. 20 Michigan (200) and No. 13 Indiana (255) rounded out the top five. No. 12 UTEP was sixth with 258 points.
Cheserek scored a decisive individual win – crossing the line in 23:34.7 for a 21-second win over Arkansas’ Frankline Tonui with only one other runner within a half-minute – while sophomore Matthew Maton kicked hard down the stretch to finish fourth.
What ultimately proved to be the winning move by Cheserek was made between the fifth and sixth kilometer splits. Attempts were made by Tonui, Louisville’s Edwin Kibichiy and Campbell’s Amon Terer to respond, but any response was short-lived as the King continued to stretch his lead throughout the second lap of the course.
Tanner Anderson was 18th, Levi Thomet was 26th and Sam Prakel was 36th to round out the Oregon scoring lineup. Like Arkansas and Colorado, the Ducks had four runners inside the top 30. The 1-2 punch of Ches and Maton up front gave the Ducks the edge of Colorado (with only one top-15 finisher), while Prakel’s top-forty effort proved to be the advantage over Arkansas.
The runner-up Razorbacks showed they have the depth to make a serious run at the four-team podium at the NCAA Championships on this same course on November 19. Tonui ran a strong final straightaway to finish as the (distant) runner-up behind Cheserek, while Jack Bruce and Alex George were 12th and 14th, respectively.
Running without potential scorer Andrew Ronoh, the Razorbacks held an 83-point edge over Colorado at approximately 3K (56-139), but had that margin cut to 67 at 5K over both Oregon and Colorado (67-134-134) and ultimately 15. The question moving forward is whether the Hogs will be able to add in Ronoh and maintain their strength for another two kilometers in the 10K NCAA race.
Colorado appeared to run the most controlled effort of the top three teams, with Ryan Forsyth leading the way in 15th. The Buffaloes were the only team in the field to put its entire scoring lineup in the top-30 with an impressive 12.5 second spread amongst the group (compared to Arkansas’ 58.9). Even their sixth and seventh runners both finished top-70; only Arkansas even managed five in that same range.
All-Americans John Dressel and Ben Saarel were 27th and 28th as CU’s third and fourth runners.
Colorado Cruises; Finn Asserts Herself
The rumors of Erin Finn’s demise were greatly exaggerated.
And Colorado is just as good as we thought it was.
Finn continued to put her loss at the Roy Griak Invitational behind her as she won her second consecutive meet, this time at the Pre-National Invitational. The Michigan senior dropped the hammer around 4K and cruised to a 24-second win over a loaded field.
Erin Clark finished runner-up to Finn and helped the second-ranked Buffaloes to a truly dominant team victory. Colorado went 2-12-17-26-36 and outscored 9th-ranked Oregon 93-154. Finn’s 13th-ranked Wolverines were 3rd, followed by 5th-ranked Portland.
Two weeks ago Finn showed she was no worse for wear after being dropped by Brenna Peloquin in Minnesota by cruising to a course record at the Louisville Classic. This week, Finn ran the 13th-fastest 6K in the storied history of the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course as she broke the tape in 19:44.7.
Finn was among the leaders from the beginning and once the race hit 4K, made sure she was the only one running up front. She put a surge in as the field started to settle and put a major gap between her and Kansas’ Sharon Lokedi, who eventually faded to 10th.
With the individual title already spoken for, it was just a matter of how much the Buffs would win by. Colorado, however, came into the meet untested, having only run its full “A” team at the glorified time trial known as the Rocky Mountain Shootout.
The second-ranked Buffs rallied behind Clark and stated their case for a No. 1 ranking after current No. 1 Providence stumbled in Wisconsin. Colorado moved up at each split and its average finishing time was 11 seconds better than the runner-up Ducks.
Clark was the only Buff in the top-10 as there was a smattering of jersey colors between her and teammate Katilyn Benner, who finished 12th. After individual champ Finn and runner-up Clark were Cal Poly’s Peyton Bilo, Missouri’s Karissa Schweizer, New Hampshire’s Elinor Purrier, Oregon’s Katie Rainsberger, Arkansas’ Devin Clark, Cal’s Bethan Knights, Portland’s Lauren LaRocco and the aforementioned Lokedi.
The race, though, was all about the dominance of Colorado and Finn — both of whom needed to show they could handle the moment. It’s safe to say the Buffs and Finn did.